As someone else pointed out, it would be illegal to operate a club that excludes anyone based on race. Possibly there are some places where most of the dancers are Afro-American, perhaps because of where they are located. Where I live (Memphis, Tennessee), the USA Dance chapter has weekly dance classes that are attended regularly by several Afro-Americans. Also, one of the very best dancers in a local Argentine Tango group is black (and nobody seems to have any problem dancing with him).

"The truth is that the professional teaching corps in ballroom is virtually all white.

When we get some more African-Americans among the ranks of the pros then we'll have more black participation in formal dancing."

The skilled professional teaching corps is overwhelmingly staffed by the alumni of youth programs, to a limited degree those in the US but mostly those in european countries.

As a practical matter, the demographics of your professionals are going to reflect the demographics of your youth recruits (domestic and global) of the preceding two decades.

Ballroom has a huge amount of cultural-self selection in terms of rates of pursued interest. There is very little push-marketing of effective ballroom training, so those who manage to do more than just spend a lot of money are mostly those who had enough interest to seek it out on their own.

The skilled professional teaching corps is overwhelmingly staffed by the alumni of youth programs, . . .

Do you mean to say that the vast majority of teaching professionals began dancing before adulthood? While I do not doubt that many insrtuctors and coaches have done so, I don't believe that their numbers would constitute an "overwhelming" majority - or a majority at all - of professionals working in the US today.

"Do you mean to say that the vast majority of teaching professionals began dancing before adulthood? While I do not doubt that many insrtuctors and coaches have done so, I don't believe that their numbers would constitute an "overwhelming" majority - or a majority at all - of professionals working in the US today."

The overwhelming majority of the skilled professionals were trained from childhood, yes. There's no widespread habit of training adults to comparable levels of capability or practical expertise, so on the job trainees are generally used only for lessons that are "more about business than about dancing". The rare exceptions are driven individuals who have gone and sought their own training at personal expense.

Wearing the hat of a teacher too early in a dancer's development tends to limit their opportunity for growth. To earn a living, they need to be in a small market that isn't saturated with more capable teachers. But to build a practical foundation in their own dancing they need to be in the opposite - an environment packed with more skilled peers and well supplied with inexpensive instruction at all levels of advancement.

I am Afro-American and I am also natural ( hair) I am currently a ballroom dance instructor. I also compete. You should be able to teach and dance anywhere as long as you have the skills and knowledge. Some places will hire you regardless of your experience as long as you are willing to go through training. I have not recieved any racism either. It's very welcoming and a fun career to get into. Good luck!

One of the many things that drew me towards Salsa,after all my many yrs as a Prof. in BR , and to re-think my "take", on latin dance in general, was the diversity, and, not only in music, but by the participants .